Wall construction



A. H. FARREN$ 1 WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed NW. 1, 1935 lad/w Patented Oct. 8, 1935 UNITED STATES WALL CONSTRUCTION Albert H. Farrens, Lincoln, Nebrh; George H. Neal and -William M. Stoner executors of said Albert H. Farrens, deceased Application November 1, 1933, Serial No. 696,247

4 Claims.

My invention relates to wall construction for buildings constructed of burned clay or other structural building blocks.

Its object is the construction of a hollow-wall '5 at the minimum of expense and having certain Another object of the invention is the provision of an arrangement of structural building blocks for building walls of various thicknesses with more than one air space and no continuous header through the entire wall.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a hollow wall having concealed header blocks so arranged as to serve as supports for closures of various kinds. g Another object of the invention is the proa vision of a' hollow wall having concealed header blocks spacedas freely as desired to develop extra strength in the wall as a whole or in part.

Another object of the invention is the arrange- 'ment of concealed header blocks in a manner such that there is no continuous mortar joint through-the wall, either horizontal or vertical, thus preventing moisture penetration through the wall. r Another object of the invention is the provision of a hollow wall having concealed header blocks so arranged in vertical columns forming integral parts of concealed vertical flues or vents, or vertical closures at windows and door openings.

Having in view these objects and others which will be pointed out inthe following description, I- will now refer tothe drawing, in which Figure 1 is arr-isometric view showing my specificchannel brick in its dimensional relations to a common brick. V L

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 but show! ing a double brick together with a channel brick which cooperateswitha double brick.

L f ,Figurei3 is an isometric view showing twochannel bricks spaced apart by means-of a common brick. A Figure 4 is a view of one form of the wall con- .struction embodying the use of common brick in combination with the channel brick and struc tural clay tile. l V. V V gilgurej is an isometric view of another form of the Wall, the wall being somewhat narrower than that of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 4 but showing the use of the channel block of double depth in combination with common brick used as concealed headers.

Figure 7 is a view of the hollow wall with a closure at the joist line.

Figure 8 is a view of another type of horizontal closure for the hollow wall.

Figure 9 is an isometric view showing a vertical closure in the wall.

Figure 10 is a view illustrating the use of the channel brick for the erection of three or more walls having channels between adjacent walls to provide walls of extra thickness.

Figure 11 shows a modification of the construction shown in Figure 10, the thickness of the wall and of the air spaces being less than those 2 The invention depends on the specific relation between the common brick and the channel brick shown in Figure 1 or the similar relation in the two blocks shown in Figure 2. The common brick I 0 has the dimensions common to most brick. The channel brick I I has the same external dimensions but it is provided with a channel in one side thereof, the channel being amply wide enough to receive the end of the brick I0 and being half the depth of the width of the brick l l.

The units shown inFigure 2 differ from those in Figure 1 only in the difference in depth, the

lengths and widths being the same in the units in both figures. The unit I0 is known as a double brick it being substantially twice the depth of the brick ID with the thickness of the mortar joint added thereto. The depth of the channel block H is the same as the depth of the double brick Hi. In either channel brick II or II the channel receives the end of the brick l0 s or In with sufiicient clearance to allow easy brick laying and to prevent positive contact/between the two units. This relationship is clearly shown in Figure 3.

The use does not contemplate the application of mortar to the end joint at the end portion of the tie brick within the channel as the mortar would imerely facilitate capillary movement of moisture and the conducting of heat through the wall. The units are, however, positively tied togather in a manner indicated in Figure 12.. The

tar into these apertures as shown in Figure 12.

In units which have apertures, these apertures are positioned in regular order so that the apertures in the end portion of 'a tie brick or block will usually be in alignment with the apertures of the units above and below the tie brick or block. Regardless of the relative positions of the apertures, however, this results in the forcing of the mortar into the apertures in both directions to provide mortar keys for holding the units together.

The wall is adapted for many variations some of which are illustrated in my drawing. In Figure 4, for example, the back wall is formed of hollow building blocks with channel brick II. at.

lines where the two walls are to be tied together. The front or outside wall is brick which may be either face brick or any other desired form of brick. A wide dead air space is thus provided between the two walls since the face brick ll are also channeled at the courses on a level with the channel bricks i l in the back wall.

Where narrower walls are desired the structure shown in Figure 5 may be employed, this structure being especially desirable in the case of small building structures or where space is at a premium or for providing a smaller wall space for placing insulation material. The back wall of Figure 5 is similar to that of Figure 4 but the front wall is only slightly spaced from the back wall since the tie'bricks ll] pass entirely through the front wall as shown in Figure 5. In either the Figure 4 construction or the Figure 5 construction the vertical distance between courses of tie brick or headers depends to a large extent on the height of the building structure and also on other factors. The wall construction is, however, sufiiciently flexible to permit the use of tie brick in as many courses as desired.

While it is seldom necessary that the channel blocks and bricks II and II must be used together, this may be done as shown in Figure 6. In this case the back wall is provided with channel blocks 1 I while the front or outside wall consists of the ordinary brick with channel bricks .II at the courses where the two walls are to be tied together. The ordinary tie bricks ID are employed in the manner indicated, these resting at their end portions on the mortar joints. The top portions of the channels in the channel blocks H are filled by inserting bats as shown at the right in Figure 6. These bats not only fill the voids in the upper portions of the channels of the blocks but they serve as seats for the blocks in the course next above to which they are anchored by the mortar joint between courses. In the front or outside wall the next course of brick is laid directly on the upper surface of the outer end portions of the tie brick It! as well as on the brick in the course below. The horizontal mortar joint between courses of brick thus holds the walls and the tie brick firmly secured together without providing a continuous mortar joint through the wall or permitting the passage of moisture.

Figures 4 and 5 illustrate walls of two different thicknesses having dead air spaces therebetween. Walls may, however, be made of greater thickness than that shown in Figure 4 by the structural arrangements shown in Figures 10 and 11. In

these cases there are three walls which are tied together by use of channel blocks and bricks. This provides two dead air spaces for insulation with three walls which makes it practically impossible for any moisture to creep through and which also makes heat transference very difficult. Such walls as those shown in Figures 10 and 11 are exceedingly strong for supporting heavy weight, they are dry and they are warm in winter as well as cool in summer. The novel feature of the type of construction illustrated in Figures 10 and 11 is that the headers are not continuous throughout the entire wall which materially lessens the heat loss by conduction through the wall. This form of construction is especially suited for cold storage rooms, freezing rooms and the like where it is desired to fill the hollow wall spaces with insulation materials. It is to be understood, however, that the headers may be either the tie brick ID or the tie block H) or that both may be used in the same construction. When it is desired that either the outer or the inner wall be made of brick, channel bricks H must be used in the inner walls to cooperate with the similar channel brick cooperating in the outer brick wall. It is also obvious that the principle illustrated in Figures 10 and 11 can be carried farther to any number of walls with dead air spaces between contiguous walls.

The system is admirably adapted for use in connection with air conditioning systems. The air conduits may be inserted in the dead air spaces as the walls are being built or the spaces themselves may be made to serve as air conduits. At any rate, the air passing through the air spaces travels for some vertical distance below the ground line and thus tends to assume the temperature of the soil which is fairly constant through the year.

Closures are often necessary for blocking of! certain portions of the dead air spaces. The novel use of the tie brick makes it an easy matter to equip the wall with closures. In Figure 7 I show a structure embodying a closure especially adapted for use at the joist line. Another form ofclosure is shown in Figure 8, this being especially desirable underand over windows and in similar places. In either case the tie bricks or tie blocks 10 and I0 function as supports for the closure elements. In the Figure 8 construction the two layers of bricks ID are supported on the tie blocks II) but the two layers of bricks are united by a mortar joint. This joint spreads out horizontally in both directions and thus seals the space within the hollow wall so that no air can leak through it. At the same time the mortar joint lies between the horizontal mortar joints of the wall so that it .does not provide a continuous joint through the wall. For vertical closures I provide the arrangement shown in Figure 9. The tie bricks l0 then serve as abutments for the bricks which are placed on end to fill the space between the inner and outer wall to both of which they are secured by means of mortar joints. Such vertical closures are required at the sides of window and door frames and they are of importance in blocking 0115 vertical channels between the inner and outer walls to serve as channels for fiues or as air channels in air conditioning systems.

The novel use of the channel units with standard units thus provides a concealed header and a hollow wall without special joint. The walls may be of varying thicknesses. The walls have 7 no continuous mortar joints for moisture penetration or for heat conduction. Thearrangement makes possible the special reenforcing of any section of wall by the use of more headers. The use of headers also provides for the bridging of closure courses at floor levels, grade lines, top of wall and about all door and window openings through the wall.

Having thus described my invention in such full, clear, and exact terms that its construction and operation will be readily understood by others skilled in the art to which it pertains, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A building wall structure comprising at least two wall members dispose-d inspaced apart relation, each of said wall members being constructed of superposed building units, certain of said units in the walls having a substantially rectangular recess confronting the adjacent wall, an isolated tie unit having an end portion disposed in said recess and the'opposite end disposed in a similar recess in the adjacent wall, and disconnected securing means for securing the ends of the tie unit in the opposite wall members.

2. A building wall structure comprising at least two wall members disposed in spaced apart relation, each of said wall members being constructed of superposed building units, certain of said units in one wall having a substantially rectangular recess confronting the adjacent wall, certain of said units in the adjacent wall having a rectangular recess opposite from the recesses in the first Wall, disconnected cementitious means for securing the units of each wall together, and an isolated tie member extending between the wall members and having end portions disposed in the recesses of each wall member to prevent movement of the Wall members relative to each other.

3. A building wall structure comprising at least two wall members disposed in spaced apart relation, each of said Wall members being constructed of superposed building units, certain of said units in one wall having a substantially rectangular recess confronting the adjacent wall, certain of said units in the adjacent wall having a rectangular recess opposite from the recesses in thefirst wall, cementitious means for securing the units of each wall together, and isolated tie members of slightly less width than said recess extending between the Wall members and each tie member having an end portion disposed in a recess of said first wall member and the opposite end portion disposed in a recess of the adjacent Wall, each of said tie members having means in the upper and lower surfaces to receive therein a portion of the cementitious means to positively lock the wall members against movement relative to each other, and the cementitious means in one wall member being separate from the cementitious means of the other Wall member whereby to prevent capillary attraction of moisture from one wall member to another. 7

4. A building wall structure comprising spaced apart inner and outer wall members, an intermediate wall member disposed between and in spaced relation to the inner and outer wall members, said inner, outer and intermediate wall 

